I played a lot of $1/$2 & $5/5 NLHE as well as $2/$2 PLO last weekend at the Red Shores Casino in PEI. One of my weaknesses as a poker player is taking lower stake games seriously after playing at the casino. I remember one particular evening where I went to a .50/$1 home game after winning $450 playing $1/$2. A $5 pre-flop bet would create consternation among the other players and elicit such reactions as "What do you have!?" "You must have something good!" etc. Sometimes players would go into the tank trying to decide whether to call or fold. A person's buy-in wouldn't even cover the cost of seeing a hand to the river at a $1/$2 table.
I faced the same detachment playing in our local $50 tournament this week. My chips didn't have any real value. I was calling with a wide range of hands and playing extremely loose. Midway through I realized I wasn't going to make it to the money if I didn't tighten up my game.
The adjustment came a little too late. I wasn't getting any action with my good hands and had nothing to call with when there was pre-flop action. The blinds were increasing faster than I could build my stack. Nonetheless, I retained my discipline and eventually players started to bust. We were down to four. The players to my right and left had me out-stacked two to one, and the player directly across from me had a stack half the size of mine. At this point, I really only wanted third place money. However, the short stack refused to die. He survived three all-ins. For the second time that evening (not wanting to become the short stack) I adjusted my game by jamming all in with any playable hand. (Mid pocket pairs, A,X, even JQ off-suit.) I did this five or six times without any callers. My all-ins started to rile the player to my left, who began mocking my all-in motion, complaining loudly that I was not playing poker. The other big stack at the table came to my defense, stating that I was playing poker. They argued back and forth while the cards were being dealt. I kept quiet the entire time, happy to watch the fireworks. This continued for several hands. Finally, the player to my right said "Look! Every time he goes all in and we don't call he picks up the blinds!" With that, I suddenly felt exposed. So I dialed back my aggressiveness. We played a couple of more orbits in relative silence before the blinds went up, increasing the pressure on all of us.
Now, the player to my right decided to exercise his option by cutting the deck on my deal. The button came back to me and he made the same request a second time. I quipped, "Be careful. You might cut me pocket Kings." The player to my left said "Yes. And I will have pocket Aces." I dealt out the cards. The player who cut the deck moved all-in from UTG. I looked down at 8-deuce off-suit and folded. The player to my left asked his nemesis what he had. He locked eyes with him and refused to answer. So the SB asked a second time. UTG said "You will have to call to find out."
"Well, I don't know if I should fold."
"Well then call! I want you to call!"
At this rejoinder, the SB angrily grabs a single stack of chips and plants them forcefully in front of him. The short stack looks bewildered, stealing glances at both of the other players. He turns his head to the SB and asks "Is that a call?" To which the SB turns in apparent disgust and states: "Yes, that is a call!" The short stack looks at his cards once more, and then again at both players, and calls.
UTG flipped over pocket tens, upon which the SB revealed pocket Aces! The short stack seeing the two pocket pairs kept his hand face down. I ran out the cards. Aces held.
I deliberately turn to the SB with stub still in hand while he is gathering his chips, out-stacking me five to one, and ask him in as firm a voice as I could muster: "Are we going to play this through? Or do you want to split the money and go play cash?" He looks up at me. "Yeah. I will split. Let's go play cash."
I faced the same detachment playing in our local $50 tournament this week. My chips didn't have any real value. I was calling with a wide range of hands and playing extremely loose. Midway through I realized I wasn't going to make it to the money if I didn't tighten up my game.
The adjustment came a little too late. I wasn't getting any action with my good hands and had nothing to call with when there was pre-flop action. The blinds were increasing faster than I could build my stack. Nonetheless, I retained my discipline and eventually players started to bust. We were down to four. The players to my right and left had me out-stacked two to one, and the player directly across from me had a stack half the size of mine. At this point, I really only wanted third place money. However, the short stack refused to die. He survived three all-ins. For the second time that evening (not wanting to become the short stack) I adjusted my game by jamming all in with any playable hand. (Mid pocket pairs, A,X, even JQ off-suit.) I did this five or six times without any callers. My all-ins started to rile the player to my left, who began mocking my all-in motion, complaining loudly that I was not playing poker. The other big stack at the table came to my defense, stating that I was playing poker. They argued back and forth while the cards were being dealt. I kept quiet the entire time, happy to watch the fireworks. This continued for several hands. Finally, the player to my right said "Look! Every time he goes all in and we don't call he picks up the blinds!" With that, I suddenly felt exposed. So I dialed back my aggressiveness. We played a couple of more orbits in relative silence before the blinds went up, increasing the pressure on all of us.
Now, the player to my right decided to exercise his option by cutting the deck on my deal. The button came back to me and he made the same request a second time. I quipped, "Be careful. You might cut me pocket Kings." The player to my left said "Yes. And I will have pocket Aces." I dealt out the cards. The player who cut the deck moved all-in from UTG. I looked down at 8-deuce off-suit and folded. The player to my left asked his nemesis what he had. He locked eyes with him and refused to answer. So the SB asked a second time. UTG said "You will have to call to find out."
"Well, I don't know if I should fold."
"Well then call! I want you to call!"
At this rejoinder, the SB angrily grabs a single stack of chips and plants them forcefully in front of him. The short stack looks bewildered, stealing glances at both of the other players. He turns his head to the SB and asks "Is that a call?" To which the SB turns in apparent disgust and states: "Yes, that is a call!" The short stack looks at his cards once more, and then again at both players, and calls.
UTG flipped over pocket tens, upon which the SB revealed pocket Aces! The short stack seeing the two pocket pairs kept his hand face down. I ran out the cards. Aces held.
I deliberately turn to the SB with stub still in hand while he is gathering his chips, out-stacking me five to one, and ask him in as firm a voice as I could muster: "Are we going to play this through? Or do you want to split the money and go play cash?" He looks up at me. "Yeah. I will split. Let's go play cash."
